McCombs Alumni Ambassador Program

In the fall of 2011, Dean Gilligan launched a three-year initiative, the “Our Turn” campaign, to engage more McCombs alumni with the school and to increase alumni participation through personal gifts to support the school. The goal of Our Turn is to maintain excellence at the UT McCombs School of Business and to provide value to the 88,000 alumni in our network.

While the UT McCombs School of Business continues to receive top-tier rankings, including the #1 Faculty at a US Business School and #1 Accounting program according to the US News and World Report, McCombs does not compare well on alumni participation and this does not accurately reflect the pride and engagement of McCombs alumni. Why does this matter to you? Annual alumni “participation rates” are used in rankings of business schools in the US. The media will often report this metric as a de-facto rating of alumni satisfaction with their degree.

Peer business schools report a minimum of 10-20% alumni giving--last year McCombs reported just 6.4% of alumni giving back to the school, which presents a real challenge to all McCombs Alumni: How do we become #1?

The intent is to reach out and engage as many alumni as possible, not simply to raise funds. McCombs is financially sound and has weathered recent budget cuts quite well. Our goal is to increase our alumni participation rate to at least 10% within the next three years.

Alumni often ask how their $50 or $100 gift each year could possibly be meaningful. The answer is simple: if half of our alumni gave $50, we would have an additional $2,200,000 for faculty research and summer support, student scholarships, and new projects. By making a modest, annual gift to McCombs you can be counted “in” when these numbers are reported each year. Every amount counts!

Become a McCombs Alumni Ambassador

As McCombs School of Business alumni, we benefited from the expertise, knowledge, and resources that came with a transformational business education. Now it’s Our Turn, as alumni, to help shape the future of the school.

What is an Alumni Ambassador?

Alumni Ambassadors are supporters and advocates of McCombs. They understand the importance of giving back their time, talent, and/or treasure in order to preserve and increase the value of their degree(s).